Shanghai has reported a 4.5 percent increase in volumes during the first six months compared to last year, but the growth has been slowing in the months leading up to what the industry hopes will be a peak season.

Automating labor intensive processes in China is gaining ground as manufacturers try to mitigate the rising costs of wages, with chocolate maker Mars the latest company to embrace a semi-automated solution.

The world’s insatiable appetite for civilian drones was evident in China’s trade figures that showed 160,000 units of civilian drones worth $120 million were exported from January through May this year.

China’s ability to throw staggering amounts of money at projects was on display again this week with the announcement that a state-owned investment giant will pour $113 billion into supporting the One Belt, One Road trade strategy.

The demand for logistics services and infrastructure will be fuelled by China’s increasing trade appetite and the continuing growth of e-commerce markets within the country, according to Barclays Research.

The Chinese economy has said goodbye to high-speed growth as well as stable foreign trade volumes, which is putting pressure on the operations of Chinese ports, Tong Mengda, chief economist of Ningbo Port Group, told delegates at the Intermodal Asia 2015 conference in Shanghai in March.

Kazakhstan’s national rail operator and DHL Global Forwarding have signed a memorandum of understanding that will provide the logistics operator with additional block trains on the fast-developing land bridge between China and Europe.